Image Lightness Organizer (ILO)

A command-line tool that processes image files and organizes them into folders based on their average lightness value in the CIE L* color space.

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👋 Introduction

Image Lightness Organizer is designed to analyze and categorize local image collections. By computing the average lightness ($L^*$) of each image using the scientifically accurate CIE L color space*, the application eliminates manual sorting, grouping your media files into structured, percentage-based luminance brackets.

💡 Motivation

When working with large collections of graphic assets, datasets for machine learning, or wallpaper libraries, sorting images by their visual weight and luminance manually is nearly impossible. Standard file managers only allow sorting by name, date, or dimensions, leaving no native option to group files by how bright or dark they actually appear to the human eye.

Furthermore, standard RGB math fails to reflect true human perception. I built this small command-line utility to solve this problem using the CIE L* color space, providing a lightweight, automated way to cluster image assets into precise percentage brackets without complex overhead.

⚡ The Real Question

How much time do you lose manually hunting for light or dark backgrounds, assets, or textures across disorganized folders when a perceptually accurate algorithm can catalog them for you in seconds?.

🖼️ Screenshots

🎦 Videos

1.mp4

Note: demo video is from an alpha version.

🤖 Features

• Calculates average image lightness based on human visual perception using the CIE L* color space rather than simple RGB averages.
• Non-destructive processing that safely scans top-level files within the source directory only, ignoring subfolders.
• Creates a dedicated @Sorted by lightness output folder and automatically distributes image files into 10 distinct percentage-based subfolders:
  • Light 00%-10%
  • Light 10%-20%
  • Light 20%-30%
  • Light 30%-40%
  • Light 40%-50%
  • Light 50%-60%
  • Light 60%-70%
  • Light 70%-80%
  • Light 80%-90%
  • Light 90%-100%
• Supports the following image formats:
  • JPG / JPEG
  • TIFF / TIF
  • BMP
  • PNG
  • WEBP
  • ICO
  • AVIF

📝 Requirements

• Microsoft Windows OS.
• .NET Runtime 10 (64-Bit)

🚀 Getting Started

1. Navigate to the Releases page.
2. Download the latest .zip archive or the .exe setup installer, depending on your preference.
3. If you downloaded the .zip archive, extract its contents to your preferred directory.
   If you downloaded the .exe file, run it and follow the installation wizard.
4. Run the executable file to launch the application.

🔄 Change Log

Explore the complete list of changes, bug fixes, and improvements across different releases by clicking here.

💪 Contributing

Your contribution is highly appreciated!. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or encounter issues, feel free to open an issue by clicking here.

Your input helps make this Work better for everyone. Thank you for your support! 🚀

💰 Beyond Contribution

This work is distributed for educational purposes and without any profit motive. However, if you find value in my efforts and wish to support and motivate my ongoing work, you may consider contributing financially through the following options:

Platform	How to Support
	Become my sponsor on GitHub Contribute any amount you prefer and unlock rewards!
	Support me on Ko-fi Buy me a coffee!
	Become a Patron on Patreon Support my open-source work regularly!
	Make a PayPal Donation Donate any amount you like via PayPal!
	Purchase my software at Envato's CodeCanyon Discover my desktop tools and DevCase Class Library for .NET, an extensive API suite.

Your support means the world to me! Thank you for considering it! 🤗💗

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🏆 Credits

This work relies on the following resources:

• SkiaSharp

⚠️ Disclaimer

This software and its associated repository are provided strictly on an "as is" basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability, reliability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

The authors and copyright holders assume no liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages—including data loss or system errors—arising from the use, misuse, or inability to use this software. You are solely responsible for determining the appropriateness of using this tool and assume all associated risks.

Furthermore, this project operates entirely independently. The utilization of any third-party libraries or components within this software does not imply any affiliation with, or endorsement or approval by, their respective original authors.

This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See the License file for details.